It’s hard to miss that a major trend in entertainment in recent years has been romantasy. The fiction subgenre—a mix of romance and fantasy—has been rising in popularity thanks in no small part to BookTok and books like Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses and Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing. And, as is the case anytime something is extremely popular, adaptations soon follow. A Fourth Wing adaptation is in the works, as is a film adaptation of Callie Hart’s Quicksilver, another popular romantasy novel.
But while there are a handful of major romantasy novels being prepared for the jump from page to screen, there are a few others that we’d love to see get the same treatment. These are books that you might not think of immediately when thinking of big romantasy titles, but they’re great books (or series) that we’d love to see come to life.
A relatively recent addition to the overall romantasy landscape, 2025’s Arcana Academy is a story that deals not with dragons and faeries and vampire types but instead magical tarot cards and counterfeiting and it all comes together in what can only be described as a high-stakes heist with serious power implications. Arcana Academy, the first book in the series follows Clara Graysword who gets a life sentence for inking tarot cards but ends up enlisted by Arcana Academy headmaster Prince Kaelis to help him steal a powerful tarot card from the king. The second book in the series, Prince of Swords, is out later this month and it is every bit a must-read (we might have had a chance to read it early) and well, we absolutely want to see this one turned into a series ASAP. Arcana Academy is great with all of the elements you need for a television series but add in Prince of Swords and you’ve got an adventure that will be appointment television.
While this one leans more towards gothic fantasy or historical fantasy, it still is a fantasy with romance and that’s “romantasy” enough for us. Anatomy is the first book in a duology (the second book is called Immortality) and is set in 19th century Scotland where Hazel Sinnet wants to become a surgeon. But women aren’t allowed to do that so when she’s kicked out of school, she gets the help of Jack Currer to procure bodies for her to practice on. The story takes a twist you won’t expect and it’s part fantasy, part murder mystery, and it would make for a dark romantasy adaptation like nothing else. This book in particular is one we want to see come to screen simply because it’s among the few that remind us that romantasy doesn’t have to be all dragons and elves and fantasy realms. It can be a world much closer to home, just a little bit bent off from the main.
Speaking of romantasy that is a world much closer to home just a little bent off from the main, who says romantasy always has to be teens or younger people? Why can’t it be more mature? Enter Sin & Chocolate, the first book in K.F. Breene’s Demigods of San Francisco series. The series is set in a modern San Francisco, albeit one that is an urban fantasy version, and follows a single mother who discovers she has magical abilities and that puts her in a situation where she’s going up against the gods and supernatural that run the city’s underworld. This one is spicy, sexy, and action packed and is not only a good story, it’s much more mature, which would certainly fill a gap that is emerging when it comes to romantasy adaptations, that gap being it skews really young. The older demographic, they like this sort of thing, too, you know?
Romantasy can be cozy and that’s where Love’s a Witch by Tricia O’Malley (and its upcoming sequel, A Taste of Magic) comes in. The book is kind of what you’d get if Charmed met a Hallmark movie. You’ve got Sloane MacGregor, a young woman coming back to her Scottish hometown to break the bloodline curse and you’ve got the town’s grumpy mayor who is trying to make the town a magical haven and he really doesn’t need or want a MacGregor around causing problems. You see where this is going. It’s cute, it’s charming, you got some magic and you even get a little bit of Bridgerton potential here as the second book follows Sloane’s sister, Lyra. Romantasy doesn’t have to be all high fantasy adventure. It can sometimes be fun, low stakes romance with heart and humor and magical happenings and this would make a perfect counterbalance—and this series is just darling to boot.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
